Pubdate: Mon, 01 Apr 2002 Source: High Point Enterprise (NC) Copyright: 2002 High Point (N.C.) Enterprise Contact: http://www.hpe.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/576 Author: Clifford A. Schaffer Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n598/a10.html SHOOTING DEALERS WON'T SOLVE ILLEGAL DRUG MESS Arthur S. Lyon (Letter Box, March 29) claims that we ought to summarily shoot drug dealers to solve the illegal drugs problem. I have heard this assertion many times, and I always have two questions to ask anyone who makes such an assertion: 1. How many people are actually killed by drugs in the United States in a typical year? Please include the figures for alcohol, tobacco and prescription drugs, as well as the illegal drugs. 2. How many people do you propose that we kill to solve that problem? If your answer to Question 2 is more than the figures in the answer to Question 1, please explain why you want to kill more people than the problem you are trying to solve. Of course, I have been asking these two questions of people who make Lyon's proposal for several years. I have found that, invariably, people who make such a suggestion don't even know enough about the subject to answer the first question, let alone the second. CLIFFORD A. SCHAFFER Canyon Country, Calif. - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager